Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
From Wednesday, December 4th, Disney+
“Nooooo!” I hear the universe cry. Not another bloody Star Wars spin-off series – we’ve had it up to here with desert planets, moody Jedi masters and stormtroopers who can’t shoot straight. But wait: what if someone came up with a Star Wars adventure as seen through the childlike eyes of Steven Spielberg? A Lucasfilm joint that played like an Amblin Entertainment epic? Skeleton Crew centres on four kids (one of whom looks like a cute baby pachyderm) who dream of swashbuckling like Skywalker but are unlikely ever to see lightsabre action on their seemingly safe planet. But then they make a strange discovery and are suddenly thrust through hyperspace into intrigue and peril. As they try to find their way home they encounter the mysterious Jod Na Nawood, played by Jude Law. He knows how to use the force, but is he a Jedi or a Sith?
Black Doves
From Thursday, December 5th, Netflix
Keira Knightley stars in a new Christmas drama, and it’s definitely not Love, Actually. In this new thriller series she plays Helen Webb, a wife, mum and gun-wielding spy who works for the titular shadowy organisation. Those red stains she is regularly splattered with are definitely not mulled wine. Her husband, a politician, has no idea his wife is passing on his secret information to her spymaster, Reed (Sarah Lancashire), and no idea she has a secret lover, Jason (Andrew Koji). But when Jason is assassinated, Helen’s life – and her family’s – are in mortal danger, and she teams up with her old friend (and fellow assassin) Sam (Ben Whishaw) to track down the people behind Jason’s killing. As the body count rises – and the laundry bills rack up – it soon becomes apparent that a bigger conspiracy is afoot.
The Sticky
From Friday, December 6th, Prime Video
What’s a Canadian maple-syrup farmer to do when their livelihood comes unstuck? Get stuck into some serious crime, of course. This comedy drama, based on a true story, stars the Emmy-winner Margo Martindale as Ruth Landry, a tough-as-nails middle-aged woman trying to keep her maple-syrup business going. When the bureaucrats rock up and shut down her farm, she decides to pull off a daring heist. Her target? Quebec’s maple-syrup surplus. She’ll need help for this caper, but choosing an easily triggered mobster from Boston and a laid-back French-Canadian security guard may not have been wise. Executive producer Jamie Lee Curtis makes a typically brash guest appearance.
The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga
From Wednesday, December 11th, Netflix
Ever since Tiger King the search has been on for another bizarre real-life rivalry to turn into a wacky true-life series, and Netflix thinks it has found a doozy in The Kings of Tupelo, the story of a small-town-Mississippi feud that had huge national repercussions. It revolves around Paul Kevin Curtis, a janitor by day and an Elvis impersonator by night (Presley was born in the city), who falls down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, and is soon locked in an escalating feud with a former friend. By the time it culminates in an attempted ricin attack on US government officials, you know things have really spiralled out of control.
TV guide: the best new shows to watch this week, beginning tonight
Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+: 10 of the best new shows to watch in December
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
From Wednesday, December 11th, Netflix
Gabriel García Márquez’s magic-realist novel from 1967, which has sold more than 50 million copies, is finally getting its first real TV adaptation in the form of this 16-part Netflix series. Anyone daring to bring the mythical town of Macondo to the screen had better tread carefully, and this ambitious Spanish-language production, shot in the author’s native Colombia, aims to bring viewers right inside the pages of Márquez’s masterpiece. The story centres around the Buendía family, founders of a remote community that they hope will be a utopia but is instead riven with madness, war and a century-long curse.
No Good Deed
From Thursday, December 12th, Netflix
Vendor emptor, as they sometimes say in the property business. Lydia and Paul Morgan are empty-nesters who are selling their beautiful 1920s villa in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Los Feliz, but is this really a good idea? The house harbours some dark and deadly secrets, and as three couples get into a bidding battle for what they think is their dream home, Lydia and Paul find it increasingly hard to keep the prospective buyers from discovering the nightmarish truth about the property. Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano star as the Morgans, with Luke Wilson as a washed-up soap star, Linda Cardellini as a ruthless social climber and Denis Leary as a debt-ridden ex-con.
Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking
From Tuesday, December 17th, Prime Video
So you’re a dab hand at brewing up some Polyjuice Potion, and your Veritaserum is one of the best. But can you bake an elaborate Harry Potter-themed confection that is both dazzling and delicious? In this new series, bakers have their skills put to the test at Hogwarts, where they’ll have to use all their kitchen wizardry to magic up some spellbinding sweet treats. The contest takes place on the original film sets for Platform 9¾, the Great Hall, Gringotts, Diagon Alley and the Forbidden Forest. Hosting the six-part series are James and Oliver Phelps, aka Fred and George Weasley; Carla Hall and Jozef Youssef will be on hand to judge the creations. Along the way, special guests from the Potter films – Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick), Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) and Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) – will give their unique perspective on the Potterverse.
The Secret Lives of Animals
From Wednesday, December 18th, Apple TV+
Apple TV+ has teamed up with the BBC’s acclaimed natural-history unit to create this 10-part series on amazing animal behaviours, some of them never seen before. When you see some of the inventive survival techniques these 77 species come up with, you’ll never use the term “dumb animal” again. Among the creatures that cleverly adapt to their surroundings are a spider that creates “self-portraits” to scare off predators, a mouse that makes its own signposts to find its way around, and a frog that teams up with a tarantula. The series is narrated by Hugh Bonneville.
Beast Games
From Thursday, December 19th, Prime Video
James Stephen Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is one of the internet’s biggest personalities, with more subscribers to his YouTube channel than anyone else, plus more than 100 million followers on TikTok. His fast-paced videos featuring bizarre challenges and daring giveaways are catnip for digital natives, and now his move into the mainstream continues with this ambitious new series, in which 1,000 players compete in a series of weird and wacky challenges, with a grand prize of $5 million (the biggest ever offered for a TV gameshow) for whoever can stay the course. Donaldson has been mired in controversy recently, with allegations that he has rigged some of his online challenges and deceived his fans, and his new snack venture, Lunchly, with KSI and Logan Paul, has been roundly scoffed at. Will Beast Games restore Donaldson to his status as king of the social-media jungle?
Squid Game 2
From St Stephen’s Day, Netflix
Back in 2021 the first season of this K-horror series was a sensation, as viewers bought into the fiendish premise of a deadly game that could end only two ways: with a life-changing cash prize or a violent death. Now the game is being played out once again. Having survived his first tournament, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), aka Player 456, makes a crazy decision to hit the replay button. Unable to return to a normal life, he’s embarked on a mission to unmask the sinister taskmasters behind Squid Game, so is back in the compound among a new group of participants who have no idea what they’ve let themselves in for. But far from heeding his warnings, his fellow players suspect him of being part of the trickery and deception.
